Bayelsa: Ex-commissioner, 10,000 others dump PDP for APC

Former Commissioner for Youths Development under immediate past administration of Senator Seriake Dickson in Bayelsa State, Comrade Udengs Eradiri has dumped his former party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for All Progressives Congress (APC).

Eradiri, who is the former President of Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) worldwide also led over 10,000 of his supporters to his new party, the APC during an enlarged meeting of the party on Tuesday at its secretariat in Yenagoa.

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The PDP defectors were received by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and leader of APC in Bayelsa State, Timipre Sylva.

Sylva, while receiving Comrade Eradiri described his defection from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) into the APC as a positive sign of better and stronger things to come in the state during future elections.

Comrade Eradiri, who is currently a Special Adviser on Youths Matters to the sole administrator of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Akwa Effiong has been an active youths mobilizer in the state and the Niger Delta region over the years.

After handing a symbolic broom of the APC to the defector, Sylva urged him to participate in the ongoing party membership revalidation/registration exercise in the state.

He said: “Udengs is somebody I have confidence in. I see him decamping to the APC with half a million Bayelsa youths behind him. At this point in time the party needs him now than ever.”

Speaking shortly after the defection, Comrade Eradiri, said his decision to dump the PDP for the APC was based on his recent appointment in the NDDC.

He said: “I have always been a member of the PDP and in recent times I have not had it good in my party. Now that the national government has called me for a national service, I can’t continue to remain in one party while working for another party. So it is only proper that to render effective service I must abandon my personal interest for national interest.”